


To be Fearful of the Night

by Brightest_Moonstone



Series: With time and silence [3]
Category: Sly Cooper (Video Games)
Genre: Bonus Scene, Established Relationship, F/M, Filling in some gaps, Prequel, Sly 3 au, spoilers they bang, what happened in venice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 12:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12887985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brightest_Moonstone/pseuds/Brightest_Moonstone
Summary: What happened in Venice





	To be Fearful of the Night

**Author's Note:**

> A short prequel to The Because

_“Though my soul may set in darkness,_  
_it will rise in perfect light;_  
_For I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.”_  
_― Sarah Williams_

Venice, it seemed to Sly was quieter by night than Paris, darker too. Perhaps it was hometown bias talking but Sly preferred Paris even with its less than ideal conditions for thievery. Or maybe it was the canals that made him uneasy? Especially after today. He hopped from rooftop to rooftop, running across powerlines and swinging through the night sky. He let it relax him, let it clear his mind. There was nothing to fear, she was safe. Everything was as it should be.

Almost.

It had been good to see Murray again after months of radio silence but it had also driven home how different the dynamic between then had become.

Sly missed his friend.

Missed having his gang all together.

Missed things being normal.

Sighing Sly landed on the rail of a balcony and tapped quietly on the glass door with his cane, waiting.

The door slid open and Carmelita Fox looked at him,  
“Sly?”

Sly didn’t give her a chance to say anymore than that, he leapt from the rail and pulled her against him. Cradling her jaw in his hands, he tilted her face up to his and kissed her fiercely. He slid his tongue along her lower lip eliciting a little gasp from her that set his blood on fire. He pressed her against the doorframe, he wanted to be sure that she was alright, that she was safe. Wanted to feel her alive under his hands, wanted to throw her to the floor and have her right then and there. He gripped her thigh, pulling it up to hook over his hip, pushing against her, trembling with his wanting of her.

Carmelita broke the kiss turning her face away, “Sly…” She took the hand he was attempting to slip beneath her pyjama top. “Sly wait.”

He groaned, with great effort pulling himself away. “’Lita please…” He begged.

“Come inside.” She said, tugging on his shirt. He followed her into her hotel room. “What are you doing in Venice?” She asked turning back to shut the door and draw her blinds. “You hate it here.”

“Too much water,” he mumbled distractedly. He couldn’t bear to take his eyes off her, she looked much as she always did. Vibrant, bright, alive. He was so glad.

She spun back to face him, “and what were you thinking showing up in my briefing room?” She stalked toward him, poking him in the chest. “I told you that I wasn’t just going to let you do as you pleased, you can’t just expect me to…”

“Murray’s here.” Sly interrupted quietly, catching the hand she was poking him with, bringing it up against his cheek and kissing her wrist.

“Oh…” She trailed off. “Is he alright?”

“Seems so. He’s really taken to this whole dreamtime, walkabout thing so he’s acting kinda zenned out and weird but he’s in one piece and it was good to see him.”

“Well that’s good.” Carmelita nodded, taking her hand back. “It doesn’t explain what you were doing in my briefing room though.” 

“Bentley heard that there was a special prisoner, we thought it might have been him.”

“No it was that snake Lousteau, he…” Her eyes narrowed. “Was that you ? Did you have something to with his escape? No wait don’t answer that. I don’t want details of your crimes.”

“’Lita…” He said hoarsely as she deliberately backed out of his reach, fur bristling, annoyed. “’Lita please…”

Her expression softened, “Sly? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… nothing is wrong. I just… I need…. ‘Lita please…” He took a step toward her reaching.

“Do not lie to me Cooper.” She said but went willingly to his embrace, she ran her hands up his chest to rest on his shoulders and Sly bent his head to kiss her again but she caught his cheek. “First tell me what’s wrong.”

Letting out a shuddering breath Sly crushed her against himself and buried his face against the curve of her neck. “Don Octavio tried to have you killed today.” He said finally.

Carmelita stiffened in surprise, “he what?”

“Bentley intercepted communication between Octavio and the Blue Vipers and they tried to… they tried to…” He took a deep breath. It didn’t bear thinking about, the idea of her disappearing beneath the water, of blood and the fiery wreckage of her boat. Even with her standing there, clinging to him, speaking of what the Vipers might have done brought back the cold dread that had filled him earlier in the evening as Bentley had outlined the job.

“Sly I’m fine. Nothing happened.” She twined fingers into his hair, running her nails along his scalp trying to reassure.

“I know.” He said, very flat and cold. “That’s because Bentley and I took them out first.”

“What?” She drew back, holding him at arm’s length. “Are you alright? What happened?” Her eyes flicked over him checking for injuries.

“I’m fine, neither of us were hurt. The Vipers planned to ambush you during your nightly patrol so we stopped them.”

“You and Bentley went out on the canal? Sly, neither of you can swim!”

“I wasn’t about to let them blow you up.” He retorted.

“Why didn’t you just warm me?”

“There wasn’t time. Besides half the police in this town are on Octavio’s payroll, how was I supposed to get you a message?”

Carmelita’s face twisted, “you’re right. I can’t trust anyone in the local precinct.” She raised a hand to his face. “What happened to the Vipers?”

Sly shrugged, the last he’d seen were three gondolas burning as they went into the canal. He neither knew nor cared what had happened to the occupants as long as they got the message that Carmelita was off limits. “Not sure, I heard they got the hell out of town after their boats went down.”

Carmelita sighed, Sly knew she would have rather made an arrest, tried to use them to bring Octavio’s whole twisted empire down around his ears.

“They never would have talked ‘Lita. These guys are professionals, killers.”

“We could have tried.” Carmelita shook her head, “but it doesn’t matter now. Are you sure you’re not hurt?” She passed her thumb across his cheek.

He leant into her touch, eyes closing. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not.”

He grabbed her hips pulling her flush against him, “I was worried about you.” He said. Hands shaking on the tiller, watching Bentley reload. Sick to his stomach, don’t let them hurt her, please don’t let them hurt her. “You’re alright so, so am I.” He dropped his forehead to rest against hers, “can I kiss you now?” He asked, voice raw, chest aching.

“Yes.” Was her soft response.

He caught her in a burning kiss. He’d missed her. He hadn’t seen her in weeks, not since before she’d been sent away. Even before today’s events, he’d been frantic, desperate for her.

“’Lita.” He groaned, “’Lita I need you please.” He tracked kisses along her jaw down her neck, grazing his teeth on her shoulder.

She backed toward the bed, gripping two fistfuls of his shirt pulling him with her and then down on top of her. She ran a hand through his hair again, sending the most wonderful shudder down his back. “I’m here.” She murmured in his ear. “Have me.”

He made a broken sound. Nothing else mattered in that moment, she was here. Safe, alive, whole. His.

What more could he ask for?

 

They lay together once they were done, Sly’s head resting against Carmelita’s chest listening to the steady rhythm of her heartbeat.

Carmelita was absently stroking Sly’s tail where he’d curled it over her hip, “Sly?”

“Mm?” He hummed contentedly. He shifted a hand so he could trace circles with his thumb on the soft curve of her waist.

“Are you just here for Murray or is there a job?”

“Eh… both. We need to stop Octavio so Murray will come home with us. There is a job though… a big one.”

“What does an old mobster have to do with Murray?”

“His guru told him that he had to stay in Venice until ‘the black waters run clear’. He won’t leave until Octavio has been stopped.” Sly raised his head. “You know it’s him behind the tar right?”

“Of course I do. I just don’t have any hard evidence and between his ‘security force’ and the slime in the local police force that he has in his pocket I keep hitting walls. He tried to bribe me you know? To look the other way.”

Sly snorted, “I bet that went well.”

“I threatened to throw the goon he sent into the canal and then shock him.” She grumbled angrily to herself. “Can you imagine? The nerve of him.”

“You’re incorruptible ‘Lita.” Sly said patting her affectionately. “If you need any help getting dirt on him Bentley and I can…”

“No.” She cut him off. “I can’t use information obtained illegally.” 

“What if you had a… anonymous informant?”

“I’ll… I’ll think about it.” She sighed. “Sly you know if I manage to arrest Octavio and your gang is active again, odds are I’ll be reassigned to your case.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.” Sly said and he meant it but he would also miss this. Miss the ease they had had in the first few months following the fight with Clock-La.

After Sly’s escape from her custody, Carmelita had taken some time off and with Murray gone and Bentley engrossed with the modifications to his wheelchair Sly had become a fixture at her window.  
He’d taken her free running across moonlit rooftops and to his favourite late night hangouts around the city. Or sometimes she’d drag him into her apartment and they’d lie tangled on her couch while a movie neither of them paid attention to played in the background.

_“Almost like a real couple.” Carmelita had joked once._

Almost.

Sly didn’t want almost, he wanted her.

Wanted things to be normal but keep Carmelita, keep the companionable silences and her gentle affection.

_“It won’t last.” Bentley had scolded him. “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”_

“Can and will.” Sly muttered aloud.

“What?” Carmelita asked.

“Nothing ‘Lita.” He turned his head to kiss her.

Once this was done, all of it done. The vault and the recruiting and his legacy secure in his hands he’d figure out a way to make this work. To make this more permanent.  
But for now this was enough.

“Did you mean what you said about being an informant?”

“Hmm?”

“Interpol has a policy of employing criminal informants, people who can get information that we can’t. I’ve never employed any because well…” She shrugged, “it’s me. But I have colleagues who swear by their informants. Did you mean what you said, would you be willing to act as an informant? For instance, if you became aware of a dangerous criminal operating somewhere you could… let me know. And if I decided that that criminal was a higher priority than say a petty thief raccoon and I had to chase them instead of others then so be it.”

Sly’s head snapped up, “petty thief?”

“Just an example querida.” She soothed stroking his ears. “What do you say?”

“I think I know a guy who can help you with that.” Sly said smiling crookedly. He was a lucky man.

“Well in that case.” Carmelita slid from the bed and crossed the room, digging through a bag. “Here.” She said.

Sly propped himself up extending a hand, “a phone?”

“It’s a burner phone. I’ve been using them because I suspect my office phone has been bugged, I’ll get another one in the morning and text you so you have my number in case you need to contact me.”

Sly’s hand closed around the burner phone, “I’ll do that.” He said softly.

Carmelita nodded reaching up to tuck a stray curl behind her ear. “There’s one more thing I wanted to ask.”

“Yes?” He put the phone on the beside table.

“Technically I don’t go back on duty until nine a.m. tomorrow. So as of right now I am not the officer assigned to your case and so as such I can ask you…” She took a breath. “Just for tonight before everything changes, or rather before everything goes back to normal will you stay?”

Sly’s breath caught, he didn’t stay. He never stayed the whole night. He had a thousand different reasons why, what would her neighbour’s think, he didn’t want to leave Bentley on his own too long, he needed to be back well before dawn but right now none of those excuses seemed important.

“Yes.” He said. “Yes of course.”

Smiling Carmelita came back to bed, climbing on top of him. Sly let out a long breath and reached up to touch her.

Carmelita kissed him, slow and lingering and sweet as honey. “Querida.” She called him. “My heart.”

Sly moaned, there was a declaration in him and he wanted to say it but the words stuck stubbornly in his throat,  
“’Lita…” He tried. “’Lita I…”

She leant over him, a hand pressed to chest. Brown eyes soft, hopeful, expectant. “Sly?”

“You are so beautiful.” He said finally, a truth if not the one he wished to speak.

Carmelita smiled kissing him again. “Thank you.” 

Sly parted his lips to her, turning the kiss heated, she moaned in response. Shifting her hips, tightening her thighs around him. Sly pulled her beneath him in one fluid motion, pressing kisses down the line of her neck, across her chest.

They began again, this would be the last chance they might have for a long time. It wouldn’t be like the way it had been in Canada and certainly not what they had had in Paris after.

God he was going to miss her, miss this.

Carmelita looked up at him and Sly saw his own desire reflected back at him in her eyes and he swore it was almost enough to make him come undone right there.

“My ‘Lita.” He groaned. He loved her and that scared him, truly terrified him down to his bones but he didn’t regret it. Not for one minute, not for one second.

Tomorrow would come and things would be different, things would be the same, things would change. But it wasn’t tomorrow yet. Tonight she was his and he planned on enjoying that for as long as possible.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first grey fingers of dawn were filtering in through the window as Sly prepared to leave.

“Don’t forget the phone.” Carmelita said huskily, voice sleep rough and sexy as hell.

It took considerable willpower for Sly to not climb back into bed with her,  
“Got it.” He said tapping the pouch at his thigh.

“Be careful out there.”

“Always am.”

“Liar.” She snorted smiling fondly at him.

He darted back in for one last, quick kiss goodbye and took a moment to look at her. Really she was so beautiful, naked save for the sheet, unbound hair floating around her head like a dark halo.

He wanted to burn the image of her into his brain, wanted to remember it forever. He never wanted to forget this feeling, this moment. Wanted to keep it with him whilst they were apart and they couldn’t be like this.

He stroked his thumb across her cheek, “see you in the world Inspector.”

Carmelita sighed gently, leaning into his touch, pressing her hand over his. A sad sort of smile on her face as she spoke, “go on get out of here before I arrest you.”

Pulling his glove on Sly slipped from the room, pausing on the rail of the balcony for one final, longing look back and then he leapt into the lightening sky.

He had a job to do.

**Author's Note:**

> If you've already read The Because you'll know that Sly and Carmelita's attempts to keep things 'professional' do not last.  
> They try but the whole Mask of Dark Earth possession shakes them up pretty badly.
> 
> Anyhow hope you enjoyed.


End file.
